What % do house prices need to fall before you are in negative equity?

[tay]

I dont have a mortage in fact I own the banks that hold the mortgages.

Churchill

[Cyberman]

I dont have a mortage in fact I own the banks that hold the mortgages.

Churchill

Blimey !!! You are in trouble !!

[tay]

Blimey !!! You are in trouble !!

[ASB]

That's fine as long as you can guarantee you don't need the cash at hand at any time. I have enough to clear my mortgage right now, but if I did so, I'd have nothing to fall back on when something unexpected hits (like a recession or something)

Obviousl you pay more in interest on a debt than you gain in an investment, but paying off a debt is sunk money.

Obviously you have to find an appropriate balance. A lot of mortgages will also normally let you borrow back overpayments at the same rate with no fees etc so it can still be accessible.

[DiscoStu]

yeah but the guy who bought it 7 years ago for peanuts is still laughing. That's just the market for you, good times, bad times.. it's all about offloading at the point the market peaks again maybe 10yrs from now or whenever.. people need to think long term about property, not just what is happening today. If you are 'living' in the house then it doesn't matter if it's worth £500 or £500,000 you still need a house to live in. At the point you need to sell it to get all that money out just hope you can do it when the price is good.

People go on about 'losing' money on their house, their only losing what was a speculative figure some months ago but they forget they made 40%+ gains from 2001-2006.

Unfortunately for my landlord it's a 12 month old new build. I give it 6 months before it's worth less than he paid for it, and it'll be years before he'll be able to sell it for anything near what he paid for it.

... but SallyAnne will not be paying a mortgage or rent in 5 years time, but you will pay rent for the rest of your life. I think she'll have the last chuckle!!

I have no intention of renting for the rest of my life, but I'm happy to keep on renting until I can buy with a small mortgage.